Eat Fresh
by LDA-MCR
Summary: It was the quiet moments, like their walks home, that Naruto was able to see the young Uchiha at peace. He felt like the old Sasuke, the one who wasn't a treasonous murderer and potential serial killer, was still his best friend. /SasuNaru/


**Title: **Eat Fresh

**Chapter title:** N/A

**Type:** one-shot

**Rating:** T

**Word count: **3,975

**Authoress:** LuvDaAlchemist

**Warnings:** Male/Male, innuendo, spoilers for recent manga (chapter 515-ish), ect.

**Pairings:** SasuNaru

**Summary: ** It was the quiet moments, like their walks home, that Naruto was able to see the young Uchiha at peace. He felt like the old Sasuke, the one who wasn't a treasonous murderer and potential serial killer, was still his best friend. /SasuNaru/

**Inspiration: **_Blue Berry_ on the Narutofan Forums. It was originally her idea, after all.

**Point of View (POV): **Third Person omniscient- Mainly Naruto, though. Past tense.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would not be writing fanfiction; I would make it canon instead. I don't own Subway, either.

_A/N: Mentions of economy changes, war, prejudice, and fast food in my Naruto fanfiction? It's moar likely than you think._

_Would this count as sort-of AU since Subway somehow has chains set up in Konoha in this fic? Lol._

_I'll put more in-depth thoughts at the bottom. Enjoy!_

The sun was beginning to set. Even though Naruto had not looked up from the toaster he was polishing for the past ten minutes, he could see the orange tint of sunset overtake the silver appliance. Looking over, the young blond teen saw that the ornate big hand on the clock against the ruddy brick wall was about to strike twelve.

A tapping sound interrupted Naruto's thoughts. He looked over to see his fellow dark-haired co-worker, Sasuke Uchiha, drumming his fingers against the countertop. His obsidian eyes were focused on the glass door to the restaurant. A smile graced Naruto's lips as he surveyed Sasuke, and when he turned away, he could not stop himself from grinning.

The two of them had been working at Subway for the past two months. With the Fourth Great Ninja War and Reconstruction in process, all of the nations involved have been slow on distributing and accepting missions. The Peace Agreement, which was later a ratified treaty, between the Great Shinobi Nations was still upheld as a priority, and because of this, many ninjas had to settle on taking up part-time jobs to support themselves.

Naruto was in the majority that were in dire need of a new job because of the fact that he had no family or relatives to help support himself. However, Naruto had no desire to take on another job, but he was coerced by his fellow pink haired teammate, Sakura Haruno. She worried over his general welfare whether it was because they had been friends for so long or because it was part of her duty as a Medical Ninja. When the missions began to get scarce, he was close to being evicted from his apartment due to his sheer stubborn impulse to stay true to the _Shinobi_ path. Sakura eventually convinced him that it was only a temporary situation and Tsunade would not think any less of him as a Hokage candidate if he swallowed his pride to take on a civilian job.

They were on the street at the time with bustling merchants passing by, so Naruto applied and was eventually hired at the first place he saw: Subway. Although the job market was bursting from the demand, Naruto was hired with ease since managers collectively thought that former and current ninjas had a more efficient work ethic.

It wasn't long after Naruto first put on that crisp green Subway apron that he bugged Sasuke Uchiha to apply as well.

During the war, Sasuke was allied with the Akatsuki's side. However, near the pinnacle of the war, he learned that Madara had been keeping much of the alliances of their side a secret from him such as Kabuto's interference and his revival technique of Sasuke's beloved older brother. Feeling scorned from the betrayal alongside yet another confrontation between Konoha (or, more specifically, Naruto) led to Sasuke realigning himself with Konoha. Although he promised himself it would only be temporary and used to his advantage to continue his assault on the village elders, he has not gone through any acts of terrorism since the Kage Summit.

Sasuke's return to Konoha caused a resurgence of gossip. Civilians chattered left and right about Sasuke and his motives as well as questioning their own safety. A few newspapers ridiculed Konoha's elite for even allowing such a person back into the village, but there has been no reaction from the council or even the Hokage to placate the common people. Instead, Sasuke Uchiha can be found roaming the streets with only the wary eyes of the people to watch him.

Naruto could never understand how mellow Sasuke acted when in public. He could hear people whispering furtively when the two walked down the street and it was enough of a problem that Naruto couldn't contain his own outbursts to them sometimes. Admittedly, Naruto was not that great at reading the atmosphere or the body language of people, so he figured it must have bothered Sasuke to at least some degree. So, Naruto thought that the prospect of Sasuke working at Subway with him would be enough of a distraction from the village.

At first, the Uchiha sneered at him for even _thinking_ that he would stoop down from his birthright of _ninjutsu_ for even a miniscule amount of time to serve _sandwiches_ to customers. But, over time, the blond got under his skin, like always, and he eventually applied.

Of course, an ex-convict coming to apply for a job was unlikely to succeed. Somehow, Sasuke made an agreement with Konoha that expunged his treason. Naruto, upon hearing the news, cocked an eyebrow up at Sasuke when he was told this. Sasuke shrugged it off and then said that he was to be re-enlisted into the ninja registry within a few days. When Naruto asked Sasuke about any type of probation efforts, he merely scoffed at the blond and said, "None." Naruto had never before seen such lenient measures taken, but soon shrugged it off since it must have done something with his help in the war and Naruto's influence. Either that, or Sasuke must have had a compelling statement to persuade all of the Konoha officials to do that….

So, because of the expunging, his records seemed clean to the manager who not only seemed to be entering the last stage of his life, but was also apparently not keeping up with the times. Either that, or Sasuke was an extremely convincing interviewee….

With his records clean and re-enlistment into the ninja workforce, the manager hired him right away. It wasn't until later that Naruto found out that the old man had to fire someone else who had worked there longer than Naruto to be able to afford the amount of people in the restaurant. Whenever Naruto thought about this, it left a bitter taste in his mouth, and decided it was just another part of life.

The Subway restaurant itself was not commodious; it was set up to fit only ten customers inside. Considering the popularity, especially around lunchtime, Naruto thought it was a ridiculous business move. Regardless, the two worked in the cramped space behind the counter for the majority of the week. Naruto didn't mind this at all; he relished in the thought of working with Sasuke nearly every day of the week. Not only did he get to spend a lot of time with Sasuke, the job also came with other perks like forever being encased in the aroma of baked bread.

Despite the space impediments, Naruto found himself dusting often. In fact, he made sure to wipe the counter space even if he had done it three times in the past hour.

"You know, if you keep going over one spot, you're going to rub a dent into it," Sasuke spat as he jingled keys in his pocket. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"I want to make sure it's clean."

"Whatever," Sasuke turned his gaze to the door.

"If you keep glaring in one spot, you're going to put a hole in it," Naruto teased. Sasuke stopped fiddling with his pocket to lean his head to the side and narrow his eyes.

"Shut-up. And don't copy me."

"Whatever," he said in a mock voice before attempting a phony glare at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't find it menacing, so instead rolled his eyes in response to what he thought was a constipated face. Naruto giggled and began wiping the counter in figure-eights.

Silence filtered in the room until Sasuke started jingling the keys in his pocket again. Naruto tried to wipe down the sides of the register, but it was proving to be quite difficult. After he was satisfied with that, he turned his attention to the toaster again.

"I'm going to lock up," Sasuke started as he began to walk out of Naruto's vision to get on the other side of the counter.

"But, it's only…" Naruto took a quick glance at the clock, "5:46!"

"There hasn't been a customer in an hour!" Sasuke called from the back.

"You can't just lock up; we'll get in trouble for closing early!"

"Watch me!" Soon, Sasuke popped into view, so Naruto tried to lean over the counter to try and grab Sasuke, but the taller teen just briskly walked past him. When Sasuke reached the door, a gaggle of three girls- a blond, a brunette, and a redhead- suddenly rushed in front of the glass windows.

"Excuse me!" The girl's voice was muffled because of the glass. She had short chestnut colored hair that framed her face. "Can we get through? The sign says you don't close yet!" As soon as the girl finished her sentence, she grew bright pink at the sight of Sasuke. It was a typical reaction, but Naruto was growing tired of every person with even a drop of sexuality in their system being instantly attracted to Sasuke. Naruto didn't think he was _that_ hot….

"Sorry. Religious holiday," Sasuke lied as he locked the door. As soon as it clicked, the girl's glossy smile drooped honey-slow into a frown. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and made a quick decision to jump over the counter. He approached the door with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Don't worry, ladies, we still have some time to service you!" The girls looked at each other in a brief silence before giggling, so Naruto took that as a good sign. Sasuke, however, rolled his eyes at the antics and shoved the master keys in Naruto's chest.

"Do what you want. I'm getting my stuff and leaving," he muttered. Naruto tried to hide his disappointment at Sasuke's rise in frustration, but he was pretty sure his attempt-of-a-smile to the girls was a little lop-sided. Nevertheless, the three girls waited patiently as he turned the key and _Click! _opened the door.

"Thank you so much- I've been craving a footlong for awhile now," the blonde haired girl twirled her short curly hair with a manicured finger as she fluttered her long luscious eyelashes at Naruto. The red haired girl backhanded the blonde softly in the stomach area.

"Quit it, Akemi," the red haired girl whispered. Naruto just shrugged off the girls' behavior and figured it was a female thing before re-jumping over the counter (it was quicker than walking around, or so Naruto thought).

Sasuke appeared again, no longer in his pressed green apron and instead with a tan shoulder bag. His black-on-black clothing that was underneath, however, was still on. One of the few enjoyable aspects of this job, Sasuke found, was the dresscode. Except for the apron, of course; he wanted to burn that with one of his fire jutsus.

"They're still here?" Sasuke asked Naruto loudly and didn't even bother to cover up that he was talking about the girls. He rushed passed; apparently he didn't expect a reply.

"Wait, don't leave- I wanted to talk to you after!" Naruto called. Sasuke stopped at the door and pivoted.

"Speak," he commanded.

"Let me do them first," Naruto snapped back. The blonde girl, Akemi, giggled and was tapped again by the redhead. Naruto and Sasuke had a brief cerulean vs. obsidian staring contest before Sasuke broke it by rolling his eyes yet again.

"Tch. Idiot," and with that, Sasuke slouched against the front wall of windows.

"So, welcome," Naruto started as he turned to face the three girls and clapped once, "What would you like this afternoon?"

"Evening," Sasuke corrected from the side as he glanced at the clock. It was past closing time at that point.

"Excuse my friend, he acts like he has a stick up his butt, but deep, deep, deep, _deep_ down he's nice," Naruto started again while casting a glare over to Sasuke. The girls giggled again.

"It's fine," The Redhead said. She ordered first and then the brunette followed suit. Akemi, however, took her time to peruse the menu as she messed with her hair.

"Hmm… I don't know," She started. Naruto could feel Sasuke's impatience reaching a peak. It was a miracle in itself that he was even waiting, and Naruto didn't want to mess that up.

"Maybe a meatball marinara…?" Naruto offered. Akemi's gray eyes widened a bit before becoming half lidded.

"That sounds wonderful- I'll take that." Akemi finished up her order, and Naruto went straight to work.

"You're so quick," Akemi mused as she watched Naruto's hands and fingers at work. "You must use your fingers a lot."

"Yeah… I guess I do," Naruto shrugged in recognition since it never crossed his mind before.

"I'm a little sad that the two of you aren't going to make _me_ a sandwich- I was really hoping for that," she giggled again. Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle and tried to keep the customer entertained. Sasuke, however, for the umpteenth time that night rolled his obsidian eyes. Akemi, blushing, glanced toward the raven-haired teen. His eyebrow twitched after a few moments before finally snapping:

"What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing…." Akemi tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear so that one of her rosy cheeks was fully exposed.

"Then stop looking at me," and with that, Sasuke distracted himself with the drink machine that was next to him.

Naruto untied the string of his wrinkled and mustard stained apron so that he could take it off. A sudden bang on the door reverberated in the bathroom and Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's impatience.

"Just a minute- let me finished getting dressed. Or do you want me to walk out of here naked?"

"If that gets you out of there faster, then go ahead," Sasuke's irritated muffled voice called out. Naruto huffed as he tried to pull out his clothes from his bag.

Naruto didn't feel comfortable in his uniform; instead, he preferred his own clothes like his typical baggy orange jumpsuit. On one occasion, Naruto could remember Sasuke saying something along the lines of him looking better- "more attractive" might have been verbatim- in the black uniform than the bright orange jumpsuit, but Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke said that just to screw with his head.

Naruto stripped himself of his uniform and almost regretted the action. It was cold in the musty bathroom and the sudden contact of air made a trail of goose bumps cascade down his body. Muttering a curse, Naruto quickly threw on an old orange T-shirt and thrust his legs into brown pants.

The door swung open with its hinges making a squeaky noise to alert Sasuke that he was finally done.

"You sure took your time."

"I was in there for less than five minutes. Learn some patience."

"I did. Didn't like it. So what did you have to talk to me about?"

"What?"

"Earlier, when the last customers were here. You said you needed to talk to me."

"Oh, that…" Naruto hoped that his rising panic was not visibly showing. The fact of the matter was that Naruto had nothing to say to Sasuke; he lied. The truth was that Naruto just liked to walk home with Sasuke even if his forcibly appointed best friend was quiet unless spoken to. It was the presence that Naruto enjoyed even if he would never say it aloud.

"Er… Umm, about that…." Naruto racked his brain for a possible conversation. "Oh! We should lock up- it's late. I can tell you on the way home," Naruto bit his bottom lip and watched as Sasuke's eyes narrowed like a hawk's.

"Hn." Sasuke lead the way out and kept the door open for Naruto to step outside. As soon as it did, he shivered. This morning wasn't nearly as freezing; there must be a cold front. Rubbing his arms, Naruto exhaled a breath to see "smoke" escape his mouth and silently cursed himself for not checking the weather that morning; his shirt was short-sleeved.

Looking over to Sasuke, Naruto's eyebrow went up at the sight of Sasuke's intense stare as well as a light blush.

"What? Something on my face?" It took the blond a few moments to realize that Sasuke gave him the keys earlier. "Oh, right. Sorry," he turned around and fiddled with the lock. Testing the door to make sure it was secure, Naruto pocketed the keys and turned around to see that Sasuke had already started walking.

"Wait up, idiot!" Catching up, Naruto tried to walk in time with Sasuke. There was a brief period of silence between the two as the two passed nearly empty streets of people doing last minute business. There were barely any families; mostly adults. Naruto figured that they were eating dinner at this time- something that he had never had the chance to experience. A few onlookers watched them, but it wasn't as bad as that morning.

"You didn't have anything to tell me, did you?" A visible trail of breath fluttered in front of Sasuke's face as he gave a glance to Naruto.

"What makes you say that?"

"You haven't said anything," he stated simply.

"It could be a difficult thing to talk about!" Naruto defended. Sasuke promptly stopped. Naruto nearly fell over stopping himself and turned to Sasuke to see his eyebrows raised.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped himself. Instead of commenting, he began walking again. Naruto slumped and trudged after him.

"Okay. Fine. I didn't. Whatever." Sensing that Sasuke was not angry over the prospect, Naruto changed the subject. "What are you eating for dinner?" Sasuke was silent for a few moments with his eyes fixated on the horizon.

"Food."

"What kind of food?" Again, a pause.

"Definitely not a sandwich," he muttered. Naruto couldn't suppress the grin that crept up his lips; Sasuke lamented a lot about his sudden distaste for sandwiches ever since he began working at Subway. It became a bit of an inside joke between the two of them- to Naruto, at least.

"No one's going to force a sandwich down your throat. Unless you needed it to survive for some reason. Then Sakura might."

"How could a sandwich _possibly_ save me?"

"I dunno. I'm not a medical expert. I'll ask Sakura tomorrow."

"You do that," Sasuke muttered. He had a vivid image of Sakura berating Naruto for asking her such a ridiculous question, but decided not to warn him. After all, it wasn't Sasuke's place to stop their daily routine.

"So, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm feeling noodle-y."

"Ramen?" Naruto asked excitedly. Sasuke then glanced back over to Naruto, his face twisted as if he smelled something pungent.

"No."

Naruto swayed dejectedly. If he had said yes, then Naruto would've invited Sasuke to accompany him to Ichiraku Ramen. It was always great to eat with friends, or so Naruto thought. That and Naruto sometimes worried about his raven-haired friend; Sasuke was a recluse. Naruto always found that as downright weird considering most of Sasuke's pain stemmed from loneliness.

Sasuke buried his hands in his pockets as he hunched a bit as the two reached closer to the point where they diverged. Given the amount of color Sasuke lost in his face since they started walking and the tinge of blotchy pink that overtook his nose and cheeks, Naruto easily deduced that he was freezing despite wearing long sleeves.

"You didn't check the weather, either, did you?" Naruto nudged Sasuke with his elbow and ended up moving closer. Sasuke's obsidian eyes peaked out from behind a lock of hair.

"Hnn." Sasuke then nearly closed his eyes. More people cleared the streets and gave Naruto the impression that it was just the two of them slowly padding along the ground road. As the wind picked up with a murmured _whooshing_ sound, Naruto watched Sasuke out of the corner of his eye.

During the day, He was the most irritable person in the world in Naruto's opinion. He was a grouch who either yelled or tried to set fire to everything and everyone who happened to piss him off- which happened nearly every day. His hair trigger temper made Sasuke hard to deal with, but Naruto managed. It wasn't great for customer service, but Naruto figured anyone who felt offended by Sasuke thought he was too attractive to complain about.

It was the quiet moments, like their walks home, that Naruto was able to see the young Uchiha at peace. Sure, the two bickered constantly like an old married couple, but Sasuke felt comfortable around Naruto- it was plain and easy to see even if neither of them would ever say it aloud. It was in those moments that Naruto felt like the old Sasuke, the one who wasn't a treasonous murderer and potential serial killer, was still his best friend.

The taps of the soles of their shoes slowly reached a halt as they reached the point where Naruto and Sasuke had to diverge.

"G'night, Sasuke." Naruto turned to face Sasuke with a bit of a cold sweat forming on his face. This was the only part of the day that Naruto dreaded- the goodbye. Every night, the two of them would merely do a bit of a staring contest before going off to their homes. It was awkward, at least for Naruto, to just stand there, but he honestly did not know what else to do. If he bowed, Sasuke might think it's an inferior move and just walk off. So, Naruto just kind of stood there, always, and telepathically tried to tell Sasuke to take care of himself.

And he hated it. He hated just standing there. He had to change it, somehow….

"Good night," Sasuke curtly nodded his head. Sasuke moved to pivot, but Naruto reached forward and grabbed Sasuke's arms by the elbows. Sasuke's eyes widened in confusion as he was pulled in towards Naruto. It was when Naruto's arms were wrapped around Sasuke that he realized he was hugging him. Sasuke shifted awkwardly; his hands were still firmly wrapped in his pockets.

"Are you dying?" Sasuke asked with his obsidian eyes looking to the side despite only being able to see blond. It tickled his face and threatened to be in his nose and mouth if he wasn't careful. In fact, he could smell his hair- the smell of, ironically, oranges….

"No," Naruto murmured. His mouth was right next to his neck, so Sasuke could feel his breath caress the sensitive skin there.

"Then why are you hugging me?"

"It felt like the thing to do. There's nothing wrong with me hugging you. People do that. Friends do that. It's a normal greeting."

"Hnn," Sasuke grumbled. It felt weird having Naruto in such close proximity, but it was also warm. Sasuke could feel the body heat radiate off of Naruto, and it felt ten times better than the bitter cold. He had to stop himself from trying to get closer despite the lack of space between their well-toned bodies. However, he also felt awkward with how Naruto's breath tickled his neck. It sent chills down his spine even though it was warm and moist.

As if a sign for Naruto to let go, Sasuke reluctantly took his right hand out of his pocket to lightly tap Naruto's side. Naruto took a step back, but held Sasuke at arm's length for a few seconds. The two made eye contact, and Naruto made a small smile.

"I'm glad you're back," Naruto whispered with a wistful gleam in his eye.

"Hnn." Sasuke replied with a grunt, but Naruto interpreted it as an "I know." Eventually, Naruto let go and began to walk home. A few steps away, he heard Sasuke call out:

"Make sure that your food is fresh- I've been told food often spoils at your house." Naruto raised an arm in recognition, feeling better about himself… and Sasuke.

"I will." And with that, the two disappeared into the cold dreary night.

_Wow, I'm finally finished! This took forever to write up and the idea took a life of its own- it was only supposed to be a short idea about Sasuke and Naruto running into a fangirl at Subway. But, I like this version better. This story also helped me develop my ideas about the Narutoverse post-war that I want to attribute to my "main" fics (fics that I'll set within the same verse despite being separate). Awesomsauce. _

_For those of you who don't catch the reference, "Eat Fresh" is the Subway catchphrase._

_Also, I got lazy about editing around the half-way point, so sorry for the errors. I really try to catch those as much as I can, but, hey, I'm only human. _

_Please review and tell me what you think/any questions/clarifications/ect. I won't bite and will definitely respond. :)_


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